UNITE HERE Local 11 Launches Blog Exposing Disney’s Unfaithfulness to Workers, Customers and Communities Around the World
UNITE HERE Local 11 has launched www.disneyisunfaithful.org, a blog created to document how Disney is being unfaithful to workers, communities and customers around the world. The website exposes Disney’s deteriorating wages for employees and the impact this has on the Anaheim and Orlando economies, it reveals environmental practices by the company, and exposes exorbitant CEO salaries and expenses as well as the negative impact on families of Disney’s proposed cut to hotel workers’ benefits.
The blog is meant to be an interactive site that invites Disney’s fan base, employees and cultural critics to share their stories.
The blog discusses how Walt Disney once famously declared that “Disneyland is a work of love. We did not go into Disneyland with the idea of making money.” Walt truly believed that treating his employees fairly and humanely was crucial to his vision of the “happiest place on earth.” It claims that the company that carries Walt’s name is not upholding the values that he espoused.
2,300 employees of the Disneyland Hotels, including bellmen, dishwashers, room attendants, and cooks, have been working without a contract since February 2008. Many hotel workers who have given years to the company will be faced with increased difficulty in obtaining healthcare for their families due to the company’s proposals. These proposals include increasing both cost and eligibility requirements for benefits like health-care, vacation and seniority. Thousands of low-wage workers and their children would suffer as a result.
Jean Bustamante, a Server at the Yamabuki Restaurant at the Disney owned Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim says, “I am a single mother of two children. My 7 year old son has Cerebral Palsy as well as many other disabilities. With the company’s proposal of “casual regular” he would surely lose his much needed health insurance. As a 15-year employee, even when I work 6 days a week, I still don’t average 30 hours. How can Disney deny how much this proposal will hurt my family?”
When business slows down, the company cuts employee hours. Currently, even with less than 30 hours, workers can still qualify for health insurance, holidays and vacations. With the new company proposal, many would become Casual Regular and lose many benefits.
UNITE HERE Local 11 represents over 15,000 hotel, food service, laundry, airport and stadium workers in the Los Angeles area.